The client wants more work without creating milestones.

[ismailgrbz]

Hello. I got my first job on Upwork. It's a design job with a 100 USD budget. The client created a 20 USD milestone and he shared his phone number to send me some detailed videos about the design. I accepted communicating via phone because the contract has started officially. Then I completed and submitted the work via the messages section. Now, he wants me to continue the project as we talked about at the initial but he isn't creating other milestones. He isn't using the message section of Upwork and sends me messages via Whatsapp. After reading here, I submitted my completed work via "submit for payment". What would you recommend to me? Should I continue to work? Or what should I do?

[kinector]

Congratulations on your fist job, Ismail. This is a happy day! 🥳

Of course, it would have been even happier if you used the Upwork interface correctly. I understood that the client paid $20 I'm escrow, but you went forward and delivered the entire project. You haven't done anything wrong, really, and I'm sure the client is more than happy with what you have done. But you have put yourself in a position where the client can impose certain things on you since you kind of gave in already. 

It is good to keep in mind that whatever is discussed, planned, and set as the overall budget for the project, you should only work toward getting the amount that the client paid to the escrow. In this case, one-fifth of the work (if it is work that can be split into milestones in the first place). 

Many clients use this unethical tactic to squeeze more out of new freelancers even if they don't directly threaten to leave bad feedback (treathening is against the ToS). They know how the system works and use it to get stuff done for free after paying just a small amount. 

Now, this is business and you need to read your client. What you do next defines how your track record on your new profile will look like, obviously. 

Here are some possibilities:

1) Politely ask about increasing the scope with a new milestone after the client paid you in full for the work you already delivered. Will the client just close the project, give you bad feedback, keep the work, and leave you with that $20. Technically, this is possible even if not very fair or ethical.

2) Walk away and feel good about learning a valuable lesson on how to do business on Upwork. Will the client react badly or just move on as it appears she got what she wanted for one-fifth of the price? The project could be left hanging and you close it later yourself with a good chance of not getting any (negative) feedback. 

3) Agree to do whatever the client asks hoping that she will give you great feedback. When will the project end in that case and how much money would you get for it when considering all things realistically? 

... and there would be a number of other things you could do. 

Everything comes down to deciding what kind of business you want to do over here, what policies you have, and so on. Only a couple of things depend on how Upwork works, e.g. fixed price milestones and the escrow.

Good luck. 👍

[prestonhunter]

re: “Now, he wants me to continue the project as we talked about at the initial but he isn't creating other milestones.”

That is not how this works.

The client has four options:

a) Create an hourly contract to pay me for new work.

b) Create a new fixed-price contract to pay me for new work.

c) Create a new milestone to pay me for new work.

d) We’re done. I don’t do any new work.

[ismailgrbz]

Thanks for your detailed encouraging answers firstly.

During reading your answers he paid the first milestone and created 2 more milestones for other steps. They equal 60 USD in total for now but still, I feel better now. Hope I can come out of this job with complete payment and without bad feedback 🙂

By the way, may I ask anything else? If I get unfair bad feedback, is there something to do? I saw a respond feedback button but does it works for these situations?

[petra_r]

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Ismail G wrote:

During reading your answers he paid the first milestone and created 2 more milestones for other steps. They equal 60 USD in total for now but still, I feel better now.

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Has he also funded/activated the 2nd milestone? An unfunded/inactive milestone is worth the same as no milestone at all. (Nothing).

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Ismail G wrote:

By the way, may I ask anything else? If I get unfair bad feedback, is there something to do?

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No

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Ismail G wrote:

I saw a respond feedback button but does it works for these situations?

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It is almost invariably a bad idea to respond to poor feedback, it tends to just draw attention to it or even makes the freelancer look worse than the feedback itself.

In the very rare cases where a response isn't a bad idea, it should be very short, very factual, completely unemotional.

[prestonhunter]

If the client created a project with a $100 budget and funded a milestone for $20, it means that he wants you do a $20 task.

When you finish the task and submit it, you will get paid $20.

The budget does not count.

The money in escrow is what matters.

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re: “During reading your answers he paid the first milestone and created 2 more milestones for other steps. They equal 60 USD in total for now but still, I feel better now. Hope I can come out of this job with complete payment”

That is certainly good news. That makes it sound more like the client is a serious and sincere person who wants to pay you for your work. Just make sure you work only for money that is funded in escrow. Look for that amount, and do work based on the money that is actually in escrow. Nothing more.

re: “If I get unfair bad feedback, is there something to do? I saw a respond feedback button but does it works for these situations?”

I don’t know why you are worried about that right now. You have not told us anything that makes me believe the client will leave poor feedback.

[ismailgrbz]

There is no reason for bad feedback, I am really trying to do my best. Just wanted to evaluate every possibility. 

For now, the work proceeds slowly but I feel better. 

Thanks for every message. I will keep them in my mind during my freelance career. 

[wlyonsatl · Accepted solution]

Ismail,

For fixed price project always remember:

1) Don't start work on a milestone before the client has fully funded escrow for the amount of that milestone. (It is not acceptable that a client funds only a portion of the amount due on a milestone.)

2) For projects with multiple milestones, don't begin work on a milestone until all required amounts in escrow for previous milestones have been paid by the client and released to you.

3) Don't submit your entire work on a project if the client has not fully funded all milestones. (If the client funds 20% of a miilestone, submit 20% of the work required for that milestone or, better, insist that the client fully fund the milestone before you begin work work.)

3) Don't re-submit your work on a completed milestone to the client if they don't release payment right away. That only re-starts the 14-day automatic payment clock.

If you submit your entire work when there is only 20% of the required amount actually in escrow, a dishonest client can take your work and close the project, in which case Upwork can do nothing for you in regards to the remaining 80% due. Based on many messages on this board, this is a common mistake by new freelancers.

Now you know.

Good luck!